Timeline
1933 Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
1936 Hitler sends troops into the Rhineland
1937 Japan invades China
1938 Austria formally joins Germany
1938 Germany annexes Sudentland
1939 German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
1939 "Pact of Steel" Germany-Italy
1939 Germany invades Poland WWII begins
1940 Western Europe falls to Germany
1941 Germany invades Russia (June)
1941 Japan attacks United States - US enters war (Dec)
1944 D-Day (June 6) and Battle of the Bulge (Dec)
1945 War ends in Europe (May 8)
1945 US drops two atomic bombs, (Aug 6 & 9) war ends in Asia (Aug 12)
I. 1939 The War Begins
Sept 1 Invasion begins
Sept 3 England and France declare war on Germany
Sept 17 Polish army surrenders
Sept 27 Warsaw falls
Germany and U.S.S.R divide Poland
German expansion between 1933-39
II. 1940 The Fall of Western Europe
May 5 Germany attacks France
Schlieffen plan, Maginot Line
June 3-4 Dunkirk
335,000 men rescued
250,000 from UK; 125,000 from France
June 22 France surrenders
Vichy France and colonies
Totalitarian states in 1930
III. 1941 German Invasion of Russia
June 22 Three German armies invade Russia
Army Group North - target Leningrad
Army Group Center - target Smolensk
Army Group South - target Kiev
Assumption of rapid defeat of Russia in 8 to 12 weeks
Stalingrad (1942-3)
Conflict during WW II in Europe and Africa
IV. Fighting in Africa leading to Italy
Afrika Korps - Erwin Rommel
El Alamein (Nov 1942)
Rommel defeated (May 1943)
"Soft Underbelly of Europe"
V. War in the Pacific Theater
1931 Attack Manchuria establish Manchukuo
1937 Declare war on China
1940 US oil embargo against Japan
1941 Pearl Harbor (Dec 7) - forces US to rely on aircraft carriers
1942 Midway (June 4) - Japan loses four aircraft carriers
1942 Guadalcanal (Aug 1942 - Feb 1943)
"Island Hopping"
1945 Okinawa (Feb)
1945 US drops two atomic bombs (Aug 6 & 9)
1945 V-J Day: Japan surrenders (Aug 12)
Conflict in China, 1935-1945
Conflict in the Pacific Theater, 1939-1945
VI. End of the European War
1943 Jewish uprising in Warsaw ghetto (April-May)
1943 Allies invade Sicily (July)
1943 Italy surrenders to Allies
1944 Occupation of Rome (June 4)
1944 Paris liberated (Aug)
"Race to Berlin"
1945 Soviet troops invade Germany (Jan)
1945 Allied troops invade Germany (Mar)
1945 V-E Day: Germany surrenders (May 7)
German concentration and extermination camps